The framework of jokes is handed down from one generation to another, like andirons and spinning-wheels. For instance, a Hartford paper, learning that there is a coin in Southern Russia so small that it takes two hundred and fifty of them to be worth one dollar, remarks that they must be very convenient for charitable purposes. The joke appears in every age, without much alteration. It is first noticed in English literature after the ascension of James I. to the throne had brought in a horde of hungry Scotch place-hunters, to the great disgust of the English, who wanted all the places themselves. Jokes at the expense of the Scotch, of course, became very popular, and this was one of the most popular: “Why are they coining farthings again?” “To give Scotchmen an opportunity to subscribe to benevolent objects.”
The Graduate
He could quote from musty pages, delve in geologic ages, and relax himself in synthesis and such;
Could construct an exegesis, startle with a subtle Thesis, and involve a tortured subject overmuch.
He was great in mathematics, as applied to hydrostatics, or eternal revolution of the spheres;
His chronology was reckoned from the minimum of second to the undiscovered maximum of years.
He was constantly amazing with philology and phrasing, with vocabulistic plenitude and ease;
He was by his fellows quoted, as a lexicon is noted, his attainments were superlative degrees.
On Commencement his oration was received with an ovation, oh, his temporary glory was immense;
While the complimenting flowers fell around in fragrant showers, and the fever of the moment was intense.